Title pages: abstract, table of contents, abbreviations, key individuals, chronology
(pdf 699k)
Introduction (pdf 94k)
Chapter 1: Background. 1949-1962 (pdf 37k)
Chapter 2: Preparations for UNTEA (pdf 61k)
Chapter 3: UNTEA 1962 (pdf 321k)
Chapter 4: UNTEA 1963 (pdf 118k)
Chapter 5: Background to the United Nations return to West Irian... (pdf
310k)
Chapter 6: West Irian 1968 Part One (pdf 59k)
Chapter 7: West Irian 1968 Part Two (pdf 76k)
Chapter 8: 1969 January to May (pdf 97k)
Chapter 9: 1969 May to July (pdf 85k)
Chapter 10: The Act of Free Choice and its aftermath (pdf
402k)
Chapter 11: Conclusions (pdf 191k)
References: archival documents, bibliography, interviews, correspondence (pdf
455k)
This thesis examines the role played by the United Nations in the implementation of the August 1962 New York Agreement. The Agreement ended a thirteen year dispute between the Netherlands and Indonesia concerning the future of West New Guinea and its Papuan inhabitants (or Irianese as they were known by Indonesia).
Under the terms of the Agreement, the territory's administration was transferred to a temporary UN authority (UNTEA) which remained from 1 October 1962 until 1 May 1963. Following this, control of West New Guinea was handed over to Indonesia which renamed it West Irian (later Irian Jaya, now Papua).
In 1968, a small UN team returned, led by Fernando Ortiz Sanz, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for West Irian (UNRWI). The team's responsibility was to "advise, assist and participate" in Indonesian preparations for an act of Papuan self-determination planned for 1969. This 'Act of Free Choice' (or Pepera as it was known by Indonesia), and the UN's involvement, were central to the Agreement and its fulfillment.
Following the Introduction and a short chapter on the background to the dispute,
chapters two to four look at the UNTEA administration. Chapter five examines
briefly the first years of Indonesian rule in West Irian between 1963 and 1967.
The arrival of the UN team in 1968 and Ortiz Sanz's first two tours of the territory
are discussed in Chapters Six and Seven. Preparations for the Act in 1969, including
the selection of the 1022 Papuan representatives who took part in it, are examined
in Chapters Eight and Nine. Chapter Ten looks at the conduct of the Act itself
and international reaction culminating in the UNGA vote of November 1969. The
thesis ends with a conclusion in Chapter Eleven.